PORT ADELAIDE travels to Perth to take on Fremantle this weekend, up against a record that shows it has lost seven of its last eight games against the Dockers in the west.

The one saving grace is that the Power has never tackled the Dockers at the new Optus Stadium, where the home side has won five of its eight games this year.

The Power has won three of the last four clashes between the sides and by big margins of 69, 89 and 50 points.

Overall Port has won 19 of its 35 meetings with the Dockers.

The last time the Power beat Fremantle in Perth was the 2014 Semi-Final when it came from five goals down to win by 22-points.

Much of the game could come down to whoever gets on top in the contest. The Power is the league’s leading clearance and tackling side while Fremantle ranks 14th for clearances and 16th for tackles.

The game will be Port midfielder Jared Polec’s 100th in the AFL.

The teams

Port Adelaide has made three changes to the side which beat Saint Kilda with injury forcing one of them.

A knee injury to Tom Jonas will see him sit out at least four weeks, while Jack Trengove and Aidyn Johnson have been omitted.

Replacing them are Jack Hombsch and Karl Amon, while Sam Gray has recovered from an ankle injury which sidelined him last week.

The Dockers have also made significant changes with four new faces.

Angus Brayshaw has been forced out with a groin injury while Darcy Tucker (managed), Shane Kersten and Michael Apeness have also made way.

Coming into the side are forward Cam McCarthy, ruckman Scott Jones and defenders Ryan Nyhuis and Cam Sutcliffe.

The last word

Ken Hinkley – Port Adelaide coach:

"Clearly their form at home is a bit stronger but they only came over to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and had this amazing first half against Carlton and were really strong.

“Their own form has been a little inconsistent but they’re a young side who are developing.

“You hear (Fremantle coach) Ross (Lyon) talk about that all the time, they’re on the journey so they’ll have some games where they’ll be really positive – I just hope it isn’t this week.”

“The competition – it’s just so tight, you can’t afford to make mistakes - we see it every week where the so-called underdog gets up.

“We as coaches don’t see underdogs and favourites - we see opposition and challenges, that’s exactly what it is.”

Ross Lyon – Fremantle coach:

"I don't know if you've got kids, but do you judge your son by their success or failures, or their effort?"

"I tend to judge them by their effort. You don't really want to define them by success or failure.

“Our effort overall was pretty strong (last weekend).

“I saw the hurt in the players' eyes afterwards. We had nine players under 25 (games).

"There's always going to be some pain where we're at, that's just realistic.

"We need to get back on the horse and go again."

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